Follow up notice to the holiday troubles with drinkers that could have been handled with adequate police presence, something the county hasn’t been able to afford for quite awhile.
The notice.
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider measures to curb the kind of raucous activities that have turned stretches of the American River into scenes reminiscent of a Jerry Springer episode.
Back-to-back years of drunken holiday brawling by rafters and others has prompted supervisors to look at tougher restrictions on the consumption and possession of alcohol.
A July 4 melee involving more than three dozen oar-wielding drunken rafters sent one man to the hospital. That dangerous event followed an incident the previous year resulting in 30 arrests and a county ban on alcohol at several down-river locations.
Ron Suter, director of Sacramento County's Regional Parks, Recreation and Open Space, said if the new ordinance is approved, officers will stop rafters from entering the parkway with booze on holiday weekends.
The ordinance would prohibit the consumption of alcoholic beverages or the possession of an open container along the American River Parkway between Hazel Avenue and Watt Avenue on Memorial Day weekend, Fourth of July weekend and Labor Day weekend.
Supervisors are scheduled to consider the issue at 2:15 p.m. The board meets at 700 H St.
